'Til Tuesday
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Til_Tuesday_-_Voices_Carry.jpg
'Til Tuesday was an American New Wave band formed in Boston in 1982. Its original lineup was bassist/vocalist Aimee Mann, guitarist/vocalist Robert Holmes, keyboardist Joey Pesce and drummer Michael Hausman.
The group first gained fame six months after its formation when it won radio station WBCN's battle of the bands competition in 1983, and later signed with Epic Records.
'Til Tuesday is considered by some as a one-hit wonder because of the success of its debut single, "Voices Carry" (from the 1985 album of the same name); the song is said to have been inspired by an argument between Mann and Hausman, who had broken off a relationship before the album's release.
The band became an early MTV staple with the "Voices Carry" video, which depicts an oppressive boyfriend trying to convert Mann to his upper-class lifestyle; she finally lashes out at him during a concert at Carnegie Hall, standing up from her seat in the audience and belting the lyrics ("He said, shut up! He said, shut up! Oh God, can't you keep it down?...") as she removes her cap to reveal her signature spiky, rat-tailed hair. As a result, the group won that year's MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist.
By the 1986 follow-up Welcome Home, Mann was beginning to write more of the songs herself and was moving away from the slick New Wave sound of the band's debut, but the album failed to produce any big hits. After its release Pesce left the band and was replaced by Michael Montes, and guitarists Jon Brion and Clayton Scoble joined the group.
At about the same time, Mann's two-year relationship with singer-songwriter Jules Shear, whom she had been dating since the release of the "Voices Carry" album, came to an end; this breakup somewhat informed the band's final album, 1988's Everything's Different Now, particularly in the song "J for Jules," though Mann has insisted that not every song is about the relationship. Shear collaborated with Matthew Sweet on the album's title track; it also features "The Other End (of the Telescope)," a collaboration between Mann and Elvis Costello on which Costello provides a guest vocal.
'Til Tuesday essentially broke up after the release of Everything's Different Now, although Mann toured under that name as a solo artist while legal problems with the band's label, Epic, prevented her from beginning work on a solo record.
Discography
- Voices Carry (1985)
- Welcome Home (1986)
- Everything's Different Now (1988)
- Coming Up Close: A Retrospective (greatest-hits collection) (1996)